


The Hellhole

by CreativeSkull



Series: Wander x Reader One-shots [1]
Category: Wander Over Yonder (Cartoon)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 04:18:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15453192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreativeSkull/pseuds/CreativeSkull
Summary: You fall down a hole with a certain banjo playing alien.





	The Hellhole

There were several things you could be doing right now. Reading fan-fiction, watching YouTube videos, playing video-games, or even doing chores. Anything, you could be doing anything right now.

But what were you doing instead?

Running away from a certain skeletal man-child and his creepy eyeball army because someone couldn't keep his hands to himself. And it certainly didn't help that Sylvia had some errands to run, which meant you were both entirely defenseless against the mighty Lord Hater.

You could almost hit the little orange fluff-ball, if only he wasn't so dammed adorable. You decide to yell at him instead.

"Wander! Sylvia told us to stay away from trouble! WHY DID YOU GO INTO HIS SHIP?!" Your voice rises with your panic as a green bolt of lightning whizzes past your head. Taking a chance, you snatch up the smaller alien and throw him over your shoulder, taking a hard left into the forest.

"Well ,we just hadn't seen him in so long, that I just had to go in and see how he was doing." Wander replies with a shrug, completely unconcerned that you're carrying him fireman style and sprinting through a forest with one of the most dangerous beings in the galaxy right on your ass.  
You would yell at him for such an idiotic idea, but it would be wasting precious air that you needed to try and outrun Hater. Luckily though, you don't have to run for much longer. Unluckily, it's because you fall into a hole that had been hidden in the underbrush.

You groan as you roll onto your back, staring up at the opening above you. It's gotta be twenty feet high, at least. You hear Wander moan beside you as you sit up, and you hope you didn't hurt him too badly when you fell on him.

You don't have time to check on him, however, as a large shadow covers the hole. Squinting your eyes against the light, you can make out the shape of Lord Hater himself, along with his Watchdogs, gathered around the hole your in. You can't see his face, but you have no doubt he's got an evil smile right now.

He stares down at the two of you for what seems like ages before he backs away from the hole. You hear him say something, but you can't make out the words. You find out quickly that you don't need to, as the Watchdogs quickly cover the hole with several large sticks, and then pile something onto them. Several leaves and bits of grass fall down around you and the light disappears as they hide the hole, all while you can do nothing but stare in mute horror.

You can hear laughter as, presumably, Hater and his army walk away from your prison, and you feel a rush of rage over what they just did. You turn and punch the dirt wall out of frustration. "I can't believe that son of a bitch! What an ass!"

"Well that's not a very nice thing to call our friend." You jump slightly at the voice, having forgotten Wander was down here with you. Still, you don't let it break your rage as you whirl around to face him.

"Okay, first of all! He's not our friend. Second of all, and most importantly, he chased us into a hole and trapped us in it! So I'm gonna call him whatever I damn well please, because he is! An! ASSHOLE!" You turn and start punching the wall again, if only so you don't turn hit Wander. It's not a great alternative, but it's the best one you've got.

You hit the wall until your hands start to hurt, and only then do you stop, moving so your sitting with you back against the wall and your forehead against your knees. You focus on your breathing as your rage begins to slip in spite of your best attempts to hold onto it. You need to hold onto it, otherwise you start to think.

About how you're somewhere lost in the forest where Sylvia can't find you.

About how, even if she did find the spot you're at she won't see the hole.

About how dark it is and how you have no food and the opening is twenty feet in the air where you can't reach and you're goingtodiedownhere _withWanderandit'sallHISFAU_

You're brought out of your ~~panic-attack~~ thoughts by an odd noise from where Wander is sitting, cross-legged and perfectly content as he messes with his banjo.

You want to hate him. Both for causing the mess that trapped you in this hellhole and for not being the least bit bothered that you're trapped. How the hell is he so carefree anyways?!  
You watch as he tunes the instrument, a little curious despite your ~~fear~~ anger. It's. Anger. You've always wanted to learn to play something, but a lack of money had made that impossible when you were a kid. And then, when you'd finally gotten the money, you'd already found a different hobby.

Still would've been nice to learn though.

You watch him as discreetly as you can, which isn't that hard despite the small size of the hole. It's pretty dark, and you're keeping your head down so your hair covers your face. Even if he was staring right at you, he wouldn't be able to tell you ~~had been crying~~ were watching him.  
Within just a few minutes he's got his banjo tuned and has started strumming it. You recognize the first few notes of what you consider to be his own personal theme tune, and have to fight to keep from singing even though he's not.

You listen in silence as he plays one song after another, though he doesn't sing them. While you recognize one or two of the songs, the rest are a mystery. Not surprising, since you haven't been traveling with them for long.

"Do you know any songs?" You blink in surprise at the question as you realize he's stopped playing. You also notice that you've somehow shifted you position to mirror his, although you're leaning against the dirt wall rather than hunched over an instrument.

"Um, no. At least, not any that I can teach you to play." He looks disappointed, and you feel bad that you don't have anything for him so you shrug and add, "I don't know much about playing music, sorry." He frowns, then stares down at his banjo. You close your eyes and let you head fall back against he wall as he strums tunelessly on the instrument. At least, you think it's tuneless. For all you know, it could be another song you haven't heard.

"I know!" He shouts, and you snap awake from your semi-drowsy state with a jolt. And good thing too, as the next thing you know he's moved next to you and is shoving the banjo into your hands. "I can teach you how to play. That way you can teach me all your favorite songs!"  
You hold the instrument like it's made of glass, terrified of breaking the fragile thing despite having seen it break at least three time already. Each time, Wander had just put it into his hat and pulled it back out good as new, but you didn't want to risk it. "Um... I, I don't think I can... This is a bad idea. I don't know how to play this." You try to hand it back, but he just rolls his eyes with a smile.

"Well duh! That's why I'm going to teach ya!" He grabs your hands and begins to position them on the banjo for you. "Okay now put this hand here, and this one here. Okay, now strum!"  
You do a tentative strum, one that makes a quiet string of notes, and Wander lets out a whoop before moving again, this time moving to show you where to put your fingers on the frets, and which strings to pluck.

As he does, you take a sudden notice of how close he is to you. Close enough, in fact, that you can smell the distinct scent of what you think is roses and cake coming from his fur. Mixing with the more earthy smell of dirt from the Hellhole, and it's almost enough to make your head spin as you try and focus on what he's telling you.

Somehow you manage to pay attention to everything he tells and shows you. And at last he sits back and gives you the go ahead to try and play. So you take a deep breath, move you hands into the first position he showed you, and start playing.

Only to almost stop in surprise when you recognize the first few notes of his little theme song. You manage to play through the first verse before he stops you. "Okay, you're playing a little bit too slow for the song. You're doing great though! Do it again, just try and go a little bit faster. Alright?"

You nod and go through the song again. Although he has to stop you a few more times(too fast, hand in the wrong position, plucked the wrong strings, too slow again) you do manage to make it through the song eventually.

"Woo!" Wander cheers and applauds at the end, much to your embarrassment. It's even more embarrassing when he pulls a full bouquet of roses out of his hat(is that where the smell was coming from?) and throws them at you. They hit you in the face before falling into your lap, but you'll give him a pass just this once.

You open your mouth, intending on asking to learn another song, only to shut it when you both hear a voice. You both stare up at the hole, listening intently when you hear the voice again, this time calling your name. A second later it calls for Wander, in a tone that you definitely recognize as Sylvia's.

"Sylvia!" Wander calls back as he leaps up. You stand up too, much more slowly when you realize your legs are completely numb. Fun. "Sylvia! We're down here! Sylvia!"  
"Sylvia!" You add your voice to his. "SYLVIA!" It's not enough. When she calls your name again, you can tell she's starting to get farther away. Desperate times call for desperate measures, you guess.

You reach up to grab the whistle tied around your neck. You lick your lips, take a deep breath, and blow as hard you can. The sound echos around the Hellhole and forces Wander to cover his ears, but you keep at it until you're bent over, out of breath and coughing.

There's a moment of deafening, terrifying silence. For a moment, you're scared that it didn't work. That she didn't hear it and moved on to search somewhere else. Then derbies start to fall down around you as the pile of grass. leaves, and sticks covering the hole shifts, letting in the orange-y light of sunset.

"There you two are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" You squint up to see the shadowed figure of Sylvia peering down at you. "Didn't I tell you not to get into trouble?"

You immediately point at Wander. "It's his fault! He screwed something up in Hate Face's ship, so we got chased into this hole!"

"Can ya help us get out, Syl?" Wander calls up, completely ignoring the fact that you just threw him under the bus.

"Sure can, buddy. Just gimme a sec here..." She disappears from view, and you shift back and forth as the pins and needles start to fade. A few seconds later and one end of a heavy rope falls into the hole. "Grab on and I'll pull ya both up!"

You hand Wander his banjo back before grabbing onto the rope. A few seconds later he grabs on too. "Okay Syl! We're ready!"

There a large tug, and your arms almost dislocate as you practically fly out of the hole. You land beside it, with Wander landing on your back. He doesn't stay there for long, luckily, as he immediately rushes to hug Sylvia. "I am so glad you showed up, Syl. I thought for sure we'd have to spend the night in there!" The night? Oh hell no!

"Uh, yeah, me too Sylvia. Thanks for getting us out of there." You keep your distance from the hug, even though Wander is making increasingly obvious signs that you should join in. "So, which way is back to camp? Because I am starving, exhausted, and have various other needs."

"It's right this way. Come on, Wander. Let's go get some grub." She plops Wander onto her back, and again you refrain from joining in. Wander pouts, but is quickly distracted by telling the Zbornak all about how he taught you to play the banjo as they head for camp.

You follow along at a slight distance, lost in your thoughts.

**Author's Note:**

> The first in a series of one-shots, showing a growing relationship with Wander, Sylvia, and all the rest as you travel the galaxy alongside them.


End file.
